I agree with Woops re Armagh spectacle , I think Down bring a brand of magic to Croke park , some of the best players of today and yesterday are from Norther counties no one would dispute that , My dad told me all about Cavan sides of the past and a rich history that they have and would have followed there results , Antrim have been a credit in keeping hurling alive up North for as long as I can remember , so Sam the way I see it is like this your experiences are yours and I don't doubt them , however the generalisation that everyone down here is anti- North is IMO far fetched , personnaly I feel its a game it has characters and is and should be open to debate , I find some posters/ fans up north see any criticism as a geography us and them kinda thing when in fact its mere honest opinion , As for thinking there all out to get yea , trying being a Dub on here and you'd know about persecution .

Damothedub (Dublin) - Posts: 5193 - 02/05/2014 17:00:03    1583501

God, but there has been a lot of opinion aired about one player taking a break from football because he isn't enjoying it & isn't playing well.

It is a testimony to the magic Donegal bring to the GAA that even when they are written off as being without a chance & a shadow of their former selves that acres of virual newsprint gets used on such an insignificant story.

Where are the threads on real contenders like Cork, Kerry, Mayo Tyrone & Derry?

I have to admit that the abuse we got as champions was bad enough, but I thought it would let up when we imploded last year & spent the winter in Div 2. Not a bit of it.

I suppose we should be proud that we are foremost is so many people's minds & that we should revel in the inevitable conclusion that envy & jealousy is behind most of it but I do hanker after the days whenever everyon love us, wished us well & sympathised with us after another walloping from the games royalty.

Quick News Flash, Patrick McBrearty picked his nose at training last night!!! Cue threads a plenty with howls of anguish, condemnation & righteous indignation from HS posters ar fud na tíre.

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 02/05/2014 18:08:59    1583526

mhunicean_abu
County: Monaghan
Posts: 29

1583272
Players and supporters alike don't really care what a manager does if it guarantees success (an all Ireland title), especially if both are starved of success.
I wouldn't care if Malachy had the Monaghan players prancing around in leotards howling at the moon if it guaranteed SAM, and I don't think the players would either,
But would they put up with it a second year?


This is exactly the point under the microscope. Monaghan are in year 2 of their turn around. This is exactly the year that we won sam, and you are correct, people in donegal didnt give a damn how we won it (quite impressively btw we had a very hard run to the final). You are also spot on about surmising about the following year. There is only so much a person can take mentally, and even more importantly, you have got to legislate for the emerging counties, starved of success, that are making the drive that they deserve and need to make. It is impossible to match that desire and all the training in the world will not be worth a damn in the face of it.

And of course you have to legislate for the dubs too!

When the waning of success starts to happen, it is an important time for supporters to be gracious in defeat as well as in victory. And have the correct expectation about where prospects are at too. I hope we have a good year this year, by that I mean that we give derry a good game in celtic park. We will see after that.

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3846 - 02/05/2014 18:13:29    1583532

Get out of town Muckcross you guys are loving the attention , like you'd be happier talking about Kerry or Cork don't think so .On the nose picking by the end of the thread it will be spun to a mere scratch of the lower forehead .

Damothedub (Dublin) - Posts: 5193 - 02/05/2014 18:37:39    1583542

Superb post donegalman!

Jackeen (Dublin) - Posts: 4097 - 02/05/2014 19:03:55    1583549

Damothedub
County: Dublin
Posts: 1691

On the nose picking by the end of the thread it will be spun to a mere scratch of the lower forehead .

If you Dubs have anything to do with it we'll need video evidence, DNA evidence, witness evidence, medical reports & bogeys in a plastic evidence bag!!

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 02/05/2014 19:21:39    1583555

If Brian Cody has as bad a season as McGuinness last year he'd have walked? He had a worse season and didn't walk.

To the Mayo poster who commends Cafferkey's performances on Murphy, I assume you weren't at the league games in Letterkenny in 2009 nor Ballyshannon 2012

yelloworblack (Donegal) - Posts: 5 - 02/05/2014 19:22:10    1583556

MuckrossHead
County: Donegal
Posts: 2455

1583555 Damothedub
County: Dublin
Posts: 1691

On the nose picking by the end of the thread it will be spun to a mere scratch of the lower forehead .

If you Dubs have anything to do with it we'll need video evidence, DNA evidence, witness evidence, medical reports & bogeys in a plastic evidence bag!!

Yep, then the bogey will mysteriously disappear before it can be examined by the Gaa csi forensic team ;-)

AthCliath (Dublin) - Posts: 4347 - 02/05/2014 21:11:06    1583579

Donegalman
County: All
Posts: 1210

1583532
mhunicean_abu
County: Monaghan
Posts: 29

1583272
Players and supporters alike don't really care what a manager does if it guarantees success (an all Ireland title), especially if both are starved of success.
I wouldn't care if Malachy had the Monaghan players prancing around in leotards howling at the moon if it guaranteed SAM, and I don't think the players would either,
But would they put up with it a second year?


This is exactly the point under the microscope. Monaghan are in year 2 of their turn around. This is exactly the year that we won sam, and you are correct, people in donegal didnt give a damn how we won it (quite impressively btw we had a very hard run to the final). You are also spot on about surmising about the following year. There is only so much a person can take mentally, and even more importantly, you have got to legislate for the emerging counties, starved of success, that are making the drive that they deserve and need to make. It is impossible to match that desire and all the training in the world will not be worth a damn in the face of it.

And of course you have to legislate for the dubs too!

When the waning of success starts to happen, it is an important time for supporters to be gracious in defeat as well as in victory. And have the correct expectation about where prospects are at too. I hope we have a good year this year, by that I mean that we give derry a good game in celtic park. We will see after that.

Glad to see someone understood what I was getting at. I would also add that players go from seeing them selves as just cog in the wheel until success is achieved to believing they are indispensable. This is often where friction arises with management. It takes a special kind of manager to keep a consistent level of performance and desire in a team or even a player (Micky Harte being the best example currently). Sometimes this means a player has to go for whatever reason. This I imagine is what happened in this instance,
Donegal are not finished yet methinks!

mhunicean_abu (Monaghan) - Posts: 1067 - 02/05/2014 21:46:45    1583600

MuckrossHead
County: Donegal
Posts: 2455

1583555
Damothedub
County: Dublin
Posts: 1691

On the nose picking by the end of the thread it will be spun to a mere scratch of the lower forehead .

If you Dubs have anything to do with it we'll need video evidence, DNA evidence, witness evidence, medical reports & bogeys in a plastic evidence bag!!


And if all else fails we will bring in Mourinhio to manage our defence ha ha

Damothedub (Dublin) - Posts: 5193 - 02/05/2014 21:50:15    1583602

Oh dear Lord now its a anti Ulster thing? How did this go from a discussion about players jumping ship to anti ulster? The utter paranoia of some defies logic.
Let me clearly state I did not like that semi final the way the game was played was the worst spectacle I've seen. I doubt many from Donegal would disagree with me , but apart from that I like Donegal, had great time up there for league game , they passionate about football similar to Meath in that regard. But I don't like the innuendo regarding the leaving of one player, I think to vilify him in the way some have is wrong. That's just my opinion, I think he was a integral cog in Donegal winning all ire, and I doubt they would have done so well without the roll he played. So for the record its not southern bias nonsense some go on about, its stating our opinion. One of the few counties Meath could call kindred spirits is Down, the mutual respect from both is well known within gaa same would apply to galway . Now yes there are some teams I would like to see get hammered every time they take to field and a couple of them are ulster sides, one or two from Munster and definitely two from the west, but guess what, the bloody most I dislike are within Leinster, we don't cling to the provincial thing like ulster do, when Dublin win all ire again this year will Meath be cheering them on nearly as much as if it was ourselves? Not a hope. We'll be planning on taking them out next year, as they did when we were on top. Rant over.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 03/05/2014 09:05:05    1583611

Id agree with a lot there Royaldunne, but If leinster had of been partioned under the Brits and the rest of Ireland went about their daily business as normal and we were persecuted and threatened id say we might be more inclined to jump to the defence of our neighbours in the province. Dubs would still be hated off course:-)

AthCliath (Dublin) - Posts: 4347 - 03/05/2014 12:09:03    1583635

cant believe a lot of begrugers on here, about the players who left, and about Jim and the Donegal team, Mc Gee s etc, give it a rest, some of these people s counties have not won All Ireland s, people are quick to forget what Donegal did in 2012, first ,played 4 games in Ulster, and on their way to beating Mayo in the final, beat good Kerry,Cork teams, Mark mc hugh was 1 of the driving forces to get Donegal to the final, good luck to Jim and the team, against Derry, all the best to the boy s who have left, we will see yous again in the Donegal colour s, Donegal have not gone away.

mchugh11 (Donegal) - Posts: 242 - 03/05/2014 20:21:18    1583821

Athacliath if the Taliban had control over most of Leinster. Never in a month of Sunday would I shout for either Westmeath or Kildare, :).

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 03/05/2014 20:43:34    1583840

royaldunne
County: Meath
Posts: 5682
One of the few counties Meath could call kindred spirits is Down, the mutual respect from both is well known within gaa same would apply to galway . Now yes there are some teams I would like to see get hammered every time they take to field and a couple of them are ulster sides, one or two from Munster and definitely two from the west, but guess what, the bloody most I dislike are within Leinster, we don't cling to the provincial thing like ulster do, when Dublin win all ire again this year will Meath be cheering them on nearly as much as if it was ourselves? Not a hope. We'll be planning on taking them out next year, as they did when we were on top. Rant over.

Lets see now....
by a process of deduction the couple from Ulster would be Tyrone and Monaghan or Derry
The two from Munster Kerry and Cork?
The two from "the west" would have to be Mayo and Roscommon?
And several from Leinster
The Irish have often been accused of being narrow minded and begrudging to their fellow countryman. Here we have a prime example of that, Proceed accordingly methinks
As for this "kindred spirit" with Down in your wish list. Its one thing claiming mutual respect, but I can,t for the life of me see what Meath has in common with Down. Downs legacy is playing fair with a confident swagger that the entire country admire, hardly Meaths legacy. AND. I doubt you would ever come across a Down supporter that begrudges so many teams (if any) as yourself

mhunicean_abu (Monaghan) - Posts: 1067 - 03/05/2014 21:13:28    1583855

To be honest when I was a young fellow the only teams I would see playing were other Ulster teams. I think Offally were the first southern team I saw around 1968. Fermanagh, Derry Armagh were the first teams I saw, players like M Brewster , PT Tracey, Jimmy Whang, Felix Mc Knight Sean o Connell and Jim mcKeever. That's one possible reason I like Ulster teams, never saw many of the teams down south as Donegal would not be playing them but over the years I was glad to see Clare won Munster and likewise Kildare , Westmeath and Laois win Leinster.
Anyway hope things settle down back home and good luck to the County during the championship. Also I see where the CELTIC assistant manager is leaving Parkhead, any chance would JIM get promotion ???

SamOnErrigal (Donegal) - Posts: 1427 - 03/05/2014 21:18:51    1583862

mchugh11 a lot of folk are pointing to the 2011 semi against Dublin and even though this was only the first year of the project I think it has blinded people to Donegal 2012 and the strength they showed in all areas of the park beating many good teams along the way and thoroughly deserving their All Ireland title.

Naysayer (Antrim) - Posts: 2071 - 03/05/2014 21:24:25    1583867

Royaldun
If the Taliban were in control in Leinster, well all you Leinster counties would be playing SHI' ATE football. Did you ever hear football being described like that before. ???

SamOnErrigal (Donegal) - Posts: 1427 - 04/05/2014 21:24:02    1584176

Now with all this talk about the McHugh affair and speculation he left over the County /club affair , what do all you people think now after aall the injuries County players sustained over the weekend. Waterford have lost 3 players ,one out for the rest of the year plus C McManus is a doubt for Monaghan. First of all best wishes to all these injured players. But this shows how hard it is for a manager to plan ahead and you can see JMcGuinness's point about postponing the club championship.
I do not know how the club /county issue can be resolved,but don't forget after the first weekend in August only 4 counties will be involved so that leaves the rest with with about three months to play their championship and then you are at the end of October. I know players can get injured at anytime but it seems to happen a lot in club games. If he is out injured CMcManus is going to be a massive loss to Monaghan while the Waterford manager has already hit by injuries /suspension so his task is going to be all the harder. I do not know what the answer is but I'd put the county first ,especially if you have a team that might reach the later stages of the championship.

SamOnErrigal (Donegal) - Posts: 1427 - 05/05/2014 09:32:30    1584201

royaldunne
County: Meath
Posts: 5683

1583840 Athacliath if the Taliban had control over most of Leinster. Never in a month of Sunday would I shout for either Westmeath or Kildare, :).

:-)

AthCliath (Dublin) - Posts: 4347 - 05/05/2014 19:00:59    1584424